medical marijuana – The Libertarian Republic

Forced to Become a Medical Refugee, Abby Rowe Can Finally Come Home

Shelby Wright — Sun, 02 May 2021 17:20:40 +0000

Eapen Thampy has worked in politics and advocated to legalize cannabis for years. But now, he is among those who need the policies he advocates for to become reality. Currently, he is facing federal marijuana charges to which he has pled guilty. Over the years, Eapen has built relationships with an incredibly diverse number of people. Abby Rowe is one of them. She met Eapen when they were both students at the University of Missouri in the early 2000s and they connected over politics, justice, and medical cannabis.

Abby suffers from a rare connective tissue disorder that causes progressive pain, fatigue, and more. She tells me, “In college, the physicality of going to class and studying in the library really started to take a toll on me. My doctors didn’t know how to treat me; it was a disease that they didn’t know much about.” She adds, “Now they know so much more, but at that point they didn’t.” Abby clarifies that at this point in her early college experience, she was confused and suffering without guidance or understanding from many. “I was really stressed out and struggling to keep up with everything when I met Eapen.”

A mutual friend suggested that Abby talk to Eapen and that is when she first considered medical cannabis. “Eapen was one of the first people to talk to me about medical cannabis and some of the options that other states were starting to legalize. I learned about things I grew up being afraid of because there is so much social construction around cannabis; especially negative connotations that have been made about it. He was someone that gently pushed me to educate myself because he thought I might benefit from medical cannabis.”

It did benefit her. In fact, she eventually got off the other drugs that she says, “I didn’t need anyway,” and that were lowering her standard of living, causing her to live in a haze. She replaced those drugs with medical cannabis. Abby credits Eapen with being the first person to seriously recommend medical marijuana, but shortly after, a doctor told her she needed to seek alternative medicine and suggested she move to Colorado.

Abby had to leave the state she loved so she could seek the medical care that she desperately needed. She recalls that people called her a “medical refugee” when she moved from Missouri to Colorado around 2013. After five years, she then moved to New Hampshire, where she has been for nearly two years.

She found legal and safe access to medical cannabis in a different state, but Abby looks forward to coming back to Missouri once marijuana is accessible. Abby’s voice softens in a dream of the past and hope for the future when she recounts, “Missouri is a special place; it has so much to offer as far as parks and amazing places to explore outdoors. When it comes to our cities: jazz, sports in KC and St. Louis, museums, food, and Missourians themselves who really care about their community and each other.”

Abby’s story of medical cannabis, advocacy, and justice coincides with Eapen’s. She reminds me that in over ten years of knowing him, she’s seen him work tirelessly and passionately on the things he cares about. “I really don’t think that the state needs to worry about him reoffending. He’s got a lot of things that matter more to him and is goal focused and cares more about the other projects he’s working on.”

Abby’s story doesn’t end here. Eapen’s journey is not complete. Neither has cannabis’ future been determined. Life moves ever forward. Missouri recently legalized medical cannabis and is slowly making progress. Abby hopes to come back to the state she loves once her needs can legally be met. Eapen continues to advocate for others who find themselves marginalized by the criminal justice system with Crossing Paths PAC, and works with The Weldon Project to bring attention and solutions to those suffering under cannabis laws. Both hope for the day when people will be free to choose.

Image: O’Dea at Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

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Show Me The Way – Missouri Goes for a Gun Rights Trifecta

Aaron A. — Sun, 31 Jan 2021 04:28:19 +0000

As leftist politicians on Capitol Hill scramble to grab guns, Missouri legislators are making moves to help everyone keep them.

Three bills filed in Jefferson City, this year, take aim at ensuring and expanding 2nd Amendment rights within the state. Two, if passed, will inhibit federal agencies from infringing on Missourians’ gun rights, and one would expand those rights to individuals otherwise prohibited by current state law.

The Second Amendment Preservation Act (SAPA) seeks to restrict federal agencies from commandeering local and state law enforcement officials for the purpose of enforcing federal gun control laws. The bill, introduced both in the House (HB 85) by Rep. Jered Taylor and in the Senate (SB 39) by Sen. Eric Burlison, would among other things make it a state violation for local law enforcement to do so. Law enforcement officers who violate the new state law would be subject to lawsuits and would be excluded from ever holding a state position in the profession again. Basically, if the Feds want to take Missourians’ guns or gun rights away, they are going to have to do it themselves.

The second bill, HB 501 introduced by Rep. Nick Shroer, would prohibit disclosure of medical marijuana patient registry information to federal agencies and third parties. Currently, the ATF says being a medical marijuana card holder excludes a citizen from purchasing firearms. But in Missouri, we believe a person can have their pot brownies and ARs, too.

Third, HB 895, introduced by Rep. Michael Davis, would restore Second Amendment rights for non-violent felons after they’ve completed their sentences. Talk about pulling out the viper’s fangs…

So far, SAPA has passed both House and Senate committees, while the other two await scheduling on the House calendar. SAPA, having been introduced multiple times in the state legislature, is moving more quickly than in previous years. It is still very early in the legislative session, so don’t count the others out.

Any one of these monster bills becoming law would be a tremendous step forward in the gun debate, but one can only imagine the amount of liberty unleashed if all three were to be signed by Governor Parson. Here’s hoping for a freedom trifecta in Missouri this year!

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Terminally Ill Missouri Man Convicted of Marijuana Possession Dies Alone in Prison

Shelby Wright — Thu, 21 May 2020 22:58:42 +0000

Steven Sutherland was in the midst of a slow and painful death on the day authorities raided his rural Missouri home in 2015. Sutherland died alone in a prison cell on May 9, 2020. He was 59 years old with a birthday coming up on June 27^th.

He was found guilty of possessing marijuana and sentenced to ten years in prison. His son tells me at the time of arrest, he had high blood pressure, seizures, and used oxygen at the time of conviction. During the court proceedings, Sutherland was admitted to the hospital at least once.

The jury convicted him despite his argument that he used the marijuana to ease his failing health and despite the fact that Missouri had recently, voted to legalize medical marijuana. His son mentioned, ”I do believe his prison sentence was excessive, and I think taxpayer dollars going towards victimless crimes is ridiculous as a whole…especially while in the process of medicinal marijuana becoming legal in Missouri”.

However, he adds that his father was offered a guilty plea bargain that would have granted him probation of five years with random drug testing, “I told him to take that deal”.

Adela Wisdom is a judicial reform advocate with an emphasis on cannabis inmates, and a Congressional candidate. She argues that Sutherland’s case never should have been brought to court. “He never should have gone to prison in the first place and the fact that he died alone because he was in prison for a plant is horrendous”.

Wisdom has been writing to him for the last year while his sickness was worsening. She points out that Sutherland was growing his own cannabis because he was sick. He was a medical marijuana patient in the state of Colorado. It became expensive to buy from Colorado, so he started to grow his own plants.

However, Wisdom reminds me that even when you buy it legally from Colorado, another state does not have to respect your prescription. In other words, complying with laws in some states is still considered illegal behavior in other states. Therefore, “I believe the solution is to remove cannabis from the controlled substance act PERIOD.”

Sutherland was petitioning the court to release him from the time he was sentenced. It was obvious that 10 years in prison was a death sentence for the ill man. Christina Frommer of Canna Convict Project says, “The Parole Board had Sutherland’s medical release papers in their hands and they sat on it”. When she called, the officials told her the board couldn’t hear his case until August. She pleaded that he didn’t have that long to live, but they were not moved since it was likely he would not qualify for early release. He had not served 30% of his sentence which usually must be completed before parole is offered.

Sutherland finally succumbed to cancer which was found while he was in prison, about three months ago. By that time, the cancer was in Stage 4. He made the decision to decline treatment because he felt the cancer was too far along and it was pointless. Soon after, he fell into a comatose state.

Adela Wisdom views Sutherland’s case as another example of a legal system that is hindered by an obsession with marijuana plants, “Is the intent of our justice system to put a dying, sick man in prison for the last year of his life because he grew some pot plants?”

It is true that Mr. Sutherland was a repeat offender. He was found guilty of possessing and distributing marijuana in the 1990s, and because of that offense he was not allowed to legally possess a gun. A firearm was found in his home when police raided it. The weapon charge is one of the reasons for the length of the 10-year prison sentence.

Wisdom admits, “recidivism is high amongst cannabis offenders”. She believes the solution is multifaceted, but one of the main points is to stop the government from harassing citizens for cultivating a plant.

Sutherland had reports of violent behavior both officially documented in restraining orders and personal stories that I was told about. However, the marijuana charge is what sentenced him to prison for (what everyone knew) would be the rest of his life.

The state of Missouri nor the US government has acted to end the federally endorsed hysteria against the marijuana plant. Sutherland’s death was inevitable regardless of the government’s actions. The cancer was going to end his life naturally. But he could have been at home. Instead, the last days of his nearly 60 years of life were spent in a prison.

When Sutherland’s son looks at the greater picture, the lesson is clear that individuals are responsible for their personal behavior and faults. But the system could take measures to not exacerbate the problem. “Understand that so many people with mental illness do not get the help they need and they fall through the cracks all too often; drug offenders often time do not need to be in prison—they need quality rehabilitation and support.”

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The (Unjust) Constitutional Basis for Restrictions on Marijuana Licenses in Missouri

Guest Post — Wed, 13 May 2020 19:09:34 +0000

This Constitutional reform created an entire system of personal and commercial medical marijuana licensing which has been the focus of significant controversy after almost 90% of applicants were denied applications for cultivation, manufacturing, or dispensary licenses due to onerous restrictions in the Amendment 2 framework (now Article XIV of the Missouri Constitution).

These restrictions are largely misunderstood. Many individuals and entities believe these restrictions exist solely through the discretion of the Department of Health & Senior Services and the bureaucrats charged with implementing Article XIV. This is false. The reality is that the restrictions on licensing are based on the text of Article XIV. The Article XIV drafters intentionally made this a difficult and confusing task so as to hide their intent; one has to read carefully and link several parts of the text to understand this.

The text of Article XIV provides (Section 1, Subsection 3, Paragraphs 15-17) first that licenses may be limited:

(15) The department may restrict the aggregate number of licenses granted for medical marijuana cultivation facilities, provided, however, that the number may not be limited to fewer than one license per every one hundred thousand inhabitants, or any portion thereof, of the state of Missouri, according to the most recent census of the United States. A decrease in the number of inhabitants in the state of Missouri shall have no impact. (16) The department may restrict the aggregate number of licenses granted for marijuana-infused products manufacturing facilities, provided, however, that the number may not be limited to fewer than one license per every seventy thousand inhabitants, or any portion thereof, of the state of Missouri, according to the most recent census of the United States. A decrease in the number of inhabitants in the state of Missouri shall have no impact. (17) The department may restrict the aggregate number of licenses granted for medical marijuana dispensary facilities, provided, however, that the number may not be limited to fewer than twenty-four licenses in each United States congressional district in the state of Missouri pursuant to the map of each of the eight congressional districts as drawn and effective on December 6, 2018. Future changes to the boundaries of or the number of congressional districts shall have no impact.

Further, Article XIV (Section 3, Subsection 1, Paragraph h) provides that the Department of Health & Senior Services shall:

(h) Establish a system to numerically score competing medical marijuana licensee and certificate applicants, only in cases where more applicants apply than the minimum number of licenses or certificates as calculated by this section, which scoring shall be limited to an analysis of the following….

In ranking applicants and awarding licenses and certificates, the department may consult or contract with other public agencies with relevant expertise regarding these factors. The department shall lift or ease any limit on the number of licensees or certificate holders in order to meet the demand for marijuana for medical use by qualifying patients.

This last part is important because it contains the functional criteria for raising the limit on marijuana licensees above the minimums set by Article XIV — “in order to meet the demand for marijuana for medical use…”

This means that to justify allowing more commercial marijuana licenses than the minimums, the Department has to make a determination that the demand for “marijuana for medical use” is not being met by the initial allocation of licensees. On a functional basis, this presents two significant problems:

1) this determination can only be really made after all licenses are certified and operational (time frame ~ at least a year after the program opens)

2) this requirement puts DHSS in the position of functionally deciding what the market quantity & price of medical marijuana should be (central control of the market)

The drafters of Article XIV intended for these limits to exist. In late 2018, New Approach Missouri campaign consultant Jack Cardetti participated in an open forum about medical marijuana initiatives sponsored by the University of Kansas City Young Republicans. At about the 1:02:00 mark in this video, Mr. Cardetti justifies the cap on marijuana licenses in Amendment 2: “Why put a limit at all on there? …It’s because of what’s called the Cole Memo from the USDOJ…If you follow these different rules and regulations we won’t go after you…one of these is oversupply. They don’t want more being produced than is going to be legally consumed…There has to be some kind of cap…”. This is an astonishing claim coming from a campaign that is directly challenging the federal prohibition on marijuana after at least two other states (Oregon and Oklahoma) had established free market commercial marijuana licensing programs.

To summarize, Article XIV establishes commercial marijuana licensing minimums, then creates an elaborate and onerous ranking system, and finally restricts the allocation of further licenses to arbitrary determinations that can’t happen until the program has been in operation for a substantial amount of time.

We at the Crossing Paths Political Action Committee are working hard to remove these corrupt and unAmerican restrictions on economic opportunity from the Missouri Constitution. For more information, email info@crossingpathspac.com.

Republished with permission from Crossing Paths PAC.

Image: Paul Sableman

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Don’t Give Missouri License to Beat a Dead Horse

Nathan Mark — Tue, 28 Jan 2020 17:11:53 +0000

My father loves to tell jokes. Most of them are horrendously stupid and not funny. To make matters worse, he loves to repeat them, much to my chagrin. Because of this, I became fond of the phrase, “don’t beat a dead horse”, to rebut any attempt he would make to retell these terrible jokes. This would signal to him that the joke was not funny the first time and there was thus no need to repeat the joke. Unfortunately, he never learned this concept and continues telling these awful jokes to this day.

But this “beating a dead horse” is not unique to just my father and his joke-telling. Just as my father does not learn from his not-so-witty mistakes, the state of Missouri does not learn from theirs as well.

Repeatedly, the state meddles in what should be decided by the private sector, not learning that this intrusion brings more harm than good. The most recent occurrence of this was just announced a few days ago, with the state releasing the names of the businesses that received licenses to sell medical marijuana in Missouri.

Over 900 applicants sought a license to sell medical marijuana in Missouri. To obtain a license, they were tasked with filling out a lengthy application that included writing responses to numerous questions regarding how they would impact the community and their plans for marketing among other valuable questions. These answers were then judged and scored by a third-party company that the Missouri Department of Health and Human Services delegated the process to.

This is the first of many problems in the process. According to the Kansas City Star, to find a third party to judge the applications, Missouri “put out a call for bids for companies to score the medical marijuana applications, [but] it got no responses.” This should have been the first red flag that this process was a horrible idea. Nonetheless, the state was undeterred and on its second call, received interest.

To judge the third party, Missouri instituted a scoring system that would rate the prospects. The highest possible score of this system was 218, but the highest scorer and ultimate winner of the job to judge the medical marijuana applications, a company called Wise Health Solutions, received a whopping 106! This is red flag number two because Missouri handed out the task of judging the applications to a company that received less than 50% on its scoring test.

This does not exactly inspire confidence in this third-party scorer and whatever confidence that the state of Missouri had in Wise Health Solutions should be erased after the licenses were released. Since those who qualified for medical marijuana licenses became public, numerous applicants and lawyers who were associated with the process have cited irregularities and inconsistencies within the scoring process.

One notable instance of this was applicants provided the same answer to a question and received wildly different scores. Some applicants who applied for multiple licenses “copy and pasted their answers on basic questions. But those identical answers received wildly different scores”. This happened even though the Missouri scoring guide stated that the same answer should receive the exact same score. This is red flag number three, with Missouri blatantly disrespecting the rules that it set out for applicants to follow.

But the abuses don’t end there. In addition to indiscriminately giving the same answer different scores, applicants also received zeros for lengthy responses to application questions. One applicant stated that she received zero points on a question even though she provided exactly what the questions asked. The Missouri Medical Cannabis Trade Association ascertained that about 67 percent of the application pool received a score of zero on a question about marketing plans. The Association that this was so egregiously bad that it had to have been an error in the process.

Another applicant had support from the Mayor and 297 out of the 300 people in the small town that he planned to build his dispensary. In addition to this support, he planned to use revenue from the dispensary to aid the local police force. But this got him nowhere on the question on the application about the economic impact on the local community as he scored poorly on it. This apparent lack of attention to the application process earns Missouri a fourth red flag.

Apparently, though, Missouri is blind to the faults of this process. State officials still claim that the process was “secure and legitimate”, even though it was obviously not. Disgruntled applicants and their lawyers have started to file lawsuits against the state, causing an unnecessary headache for the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS). The DHSS has already begun soliciting bids from attorneys who can defend the state in these lawsuits, which will be a misuse of taxpayer dollars.

But the underlying point remains: all of this could have been avoided if Missouri had left the task to the private sector. Hopefully, Missouri voters and legislators will learn their lesson so they will not repeat the same mistakes when recreational marijuana becomes legal. I am not optimistic though. Missouri loves to beat a dead horse.

Image: Paul Sableman

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Marijuana Legalization and The Crisis of Clemency in Missouri

Nathan Mark — Tue, 07 Jan 2020 23:47:45 +0000

The state of clemency in Missouri is in total disarray. Recently, the Kansas City Star reported that Governor Mike Parson is sitting on a backlog of over 3,500 petitions for clemency from Missouri’s prison population.

Since taking office in May of 2018, Parson has acted on just one of these cases. But Parson does not deserve all the blame; previous governors such as Eric Greitens and Jay Nixon also deserve blame for creating this mountain of inaction. Parson though currently controls the Missouri government, so the duty falls to him to remedy the problem.

Historically speaking, Missouri acts of clemency usually revolve around highly publicized cases, as in the instance of Darrell Mease, whose sentence was commuted in 1999 after the visit of Pope John Paul II. But clemency should not strictly pertain to these extraordinary cases.

Given the legalization of marijuana for medicinal use, the governor should immediately grant a full pardon to anyone in a Missouri prison who has been convicted of a marijuana-related offense. Not only should this be an easy task for the governor to accomplish since it is the logical thing to do, but it will also initiate dismantling the rest of the backlog. It would get the ball rolling so to speak.

While Missouri is currently on track to full legalization of marijuana, it still has some of the toughest marijuana laws in the nation on the books. While possession of under 10 grams of marijuana is decriminalized for a first-time offense, selling and trafficking cannabis is still heavily cracked down on.

Attempting to sell less than 5 grams of marijuana is categorized as a Class C felony in Missouri and punishable with up to seven years in prison and $5,000 fine. While obviously logically contradictory, the current laws have contributed to enormous amounts of people wasting away in prison in Missouri for marijuana-related offenses.

But why should Parson grant clemency to these people in addition to all those in Missouri prisons who used marijuana for medicinal uses? The governor should do so because marijuana legalization is coming quickly to Missouri. Marijuana is already decriminalized in the state, meaning that any adult possessing 10 grams or less of cannabis is only fined anywhere from $250-$1000 and charged with a misdemeanor for a first-time offense.

Ballot initiatives to recreationally legalize marijuana are collecting signatures to be on the ballot in 2020, which could make cannabis fully legal in the state by 2021. Even if this initiative does not succeed in passing, it is only a matter of time before marijuana is recreationally legalized in Missouri. The legal marijuana train is coming, and Parson better hop on before it is too late.

Granting clemency to those with marijuana-related convictions in Missouri would also generate positive press for the Parson administration. Acting on only one of the 3,500 petitions for clemency is a sin against his office. It not only signifies laziness but an utter contempt for the prison population of Missouri.

Since 1981, Missouri governors have acted on about 6,000 petitions for clemency. This means that on average that Missouri governors have responded to 158 petitions for clemency per year. Parson is totally behind the 8-ball in rejecting clemency in his only foray into the topic. Pardoning those in prison for marijuana offenses would signify that Parson is committed to lowering the backlog.

By granting clemency to these people, the governor would also contribute to lowering the prison budget in Missouri. For the 2016 fiscal year, the Missouri Department of Corrections spent $710 million dollars to maintain the Missouri prison system. Granting clemency to inmates with marijuana convictions would reduce this budget substantially, freeing up money that Parson should then return to the taxpayers.

This avenue would be a nice start for Parson to take in approaching the clemency backlog. He has already kicked the ball down the road in refusing to hear any petitions. The governor should learn from his mistakes and lead in 2020.

Missouri residents should prod the governor along by signing the marijuana initiative to get it on the ballot in 2020. This would signify to Parson that Missouri is ready for a change, spurring him to grant clemency to all those in prison on marijuana-related offenses.

From this, Parson should begin to attack the rest of the backlog. Not only would this address the serious neglect of clemency petitions, but it would also thrust Missouri into the progressive world of marijuana legalization.

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NYC College Student Stabbing: Reefer Madness Murder?

Shelby Wright — Wed, 18 Dec 2019 15:17:35 +0000

College freshman Tessa Majors was brutally stabbed to death last week in a New York City park. The NYPD believes her murderer is a 13-year-old middle school student. Those facts alone are atrocious.

To add insult to injury, the head of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, Ed Mullins, claims that Majors was buying marijuana in the park and that is what put her in this dangerous scenario. He explains how he believes that recent limits on enforcement of marijuana laws in New York City contributed to this deadly situation.

What I am understanding is that [Majors] was in the park to buy marijuana….We don’t enforce marijuana laws anymore. We’re basically hands-off on the enforcement of marijuana. I understand the mayor made statements that this is surprising on how this can happen in New York City….I really have to question what world he’s living in to think that this is surprising, when we are watching the city slowly erode, with shootings, stabbings, an increase in homicides and, most importantly, a hands-off policing policy.

Majors’ family is taking offense to Mullins’ comments because, “…they intentionally or unintentionally direct blame onto Tess, a young woman, for her own murder.”

Nick Gillespie at Reason sees Mullins’ words as yet another reference to the old “reefer madness” hysteria, “…in which devil weed is the source of all forms of evil and criminality, even when it remains illegal.”

I can’t define what Mullins meant in his comments. I don’t read hearts and minds and, honestly, I don’t want to. But I did listen to the entirety of his radio interview. It doesn’t strike me as blatant victim-blaming. In actuality, he is taking way more swipes at NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio.

Furthermore, his comments are not textbook “refer madness” stuff because he never once says that these young teens went on a murderous rampage because they took a few too many hits of the devil’s lettuce. In context, Mullins blames the violence on the city (including Majors’ murder) – on somewhat of a lawless society that allows offenders to spin down a more violent hole.

There are many things that Mullins said in the interview that are questionable. Maybe he does hold to disproved parts of “reefer madness” and blames victims for being victims of violent crime, but I didn’t get that from this one radio appearance. He could be giving listeners a probable reason that an eighteen-year-old would be alone in a questionably safe park at night. But don’t take my word for it, listen to it here.

The problem is that NYC law enforcement might have given up on enforcing laws against marijuana consumption and trade, but it is still not legal to be bought and sold. (There is some liberalization on patients using it for medicinal purposes, but its effects are minimal).

In the same way alcohol prohibition enriched criminals, the marijuana black-market just proliferates and seedy characters take advantage of the fast cash they can make while providing consumers with a product that they demand.

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Missouri Sentences Elderly, Ailing Man to 10 Years for Possession After Passing Medical Marijuana

Shelby Wright — Mon, 09 Sep 2019 16:28:54 +0000

Missouri legalized medicinal marijuana in 2019 and laws regarding marijuana are liberalizing nationwide. However, many people are still struggling under laws that seek to oppress the very behavior our society, state, and country have recently moved to legalize: marijuana use and possession.

One of those victims is an elderly, sick Missouri man recently imprisoned and facing years more for possessing and using marijuana.

Steven Sutherland is a 60-year-old man with chronic heart disease, diabetes, and neurological issues. He has been on prescription medication for years with little relief of his medical issues. Sutherland argues that marijuana self-medication reduced the severity of his seizures. In 2015, the authorities raided his home and found 110 grams of marijuana along with 21 marijuana plants.

He had previously been found guilty of marijuana possession in 1996. Because of this previous non-violent offense, he was charged with a Class B felony, which is usually found in violent crimes like armed robbery and rape.

In April of 2019 after repeated delays due to his illness, a jury convicted Sutherland of marijuana possession. A judge sentenced him to ten years in prison.

Sutherland claims he has consumed the plant for decades in order to alleviate debilitating symptoms of his illnesses. He previously had a prescription from California for medicinal use and was buying it from there for years until he could no longer afford it. He then started growing the plants at home as an alternative.

In a letter to the court, his doctor from Mercy Hospital wrote that she had prescribed, “multiple seizure medication without much benefit.” She added, “I believe medical use of marijuana may help his seizure[s].”

In the 2015 raid where marijuana was found, Sutherland was also in possession of weapons. Sutherland was legally prohibited from having guns due to his status as a convicted felon. The prosecutors filed yet another felony against him that would carry multiple more years in prison. This charge was eventually dropped after Sutherland and his lawyers filed an appeal.

Sutherland is still in prison in ill health, and has been damned to years more in prison. Generally, even if a prisoner gets released early, they must serve 30 percent of the original sentence. He is concerned that he won’t last that long.

Sutherland and others in similar positions are caught in a decades-old struggle between our government and a plant. Ironically, his punishment is coming at the exact time our society is liberalizing for the benefit of forgotten Americans like him.

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Police Raid Stage 4 Cancer Patient’s Hospital Room for Suspected Marijuana [VIDEO]

Caleb Shumate — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 13:03:54 +0000

Police in Bolivar, Missouri searched the hospital room of Nolan Sousley on Wednesday night after getting a call that someone smelled marijuana in his hospital room. Police were unable to find any marijuana, and now both the city of Bolivar and the Bolivar Police Department are investigating the issue.

Nolan is suffering from stage four pancreatic cancer, and says he doesn’t smoke marijuana but uses CBD oil as a treatment for his cancer. He said he was trying to get some sleep Wednesday night when the security guard at Citizens Memorial Hospital in Bolivar accused him of smoking marijuana.

“He said I smelled marijuana coming from your room. I was like; it’s not me. I didn’t have any marijuana, so leave me alone because I’m trying to sleep,” Sousley said.

In the video, which was streamed on Facebook Live Wednesday night, you can see police come into Sousley’s room uninvited and begin going through all of his personal belongings. Sousley tells officers several times that he doesn’t have any marijuana, and only has CBD capsules of which he said he made the staff of the hospital aware. During the whole encounter, you can hear the distress in Nolan’s voice as police go through his things without his consent.

Missourians voted to make medical marijuana legal in Missouri, but the change hasn’t happened yet.

Ultimately officers did find CBD oil, which is legal in the state of Missouri.

Nolan’s wife, Amber Kidwell, says she is glad the state voted to legalize medical marijuana, and says she hopes it help other people the way CBD oil has helped her husband.

“It’s huge for us because it’s a medical thing,” Kidwell said. “It’s a medical cannabis to help him with his life. A better quality of life. Why do we not get that opportunity to give him a better quality of life?”

Nolan said he would like to see the security guard lose his job, and hopes the viral video of the confrontation with police will ultimately have a positive outcome.

“People you don’t know are saying don’t give up. Keep fighting, and it makes you want to fight more, and then you have people telling their story,” Sousley said. “To me, that’s even bigger. You’re reading stories of people saying we’re fighting the same fight.”

Citizens Memorial said in a statement that it is policy to call law enforcement if drug abuse is suspected, but didn’t indicate administrators wanted Sousley’s bags searched. The Bolivar Police Department hasn’t commented on their actions, but said they’ve received threats since the video went live.

You can watch Nolan’s entire encounter with police as well as a follow-up video the next day explaining the details of the incident below.

A stage 4 cancer patient's hospital room is searched by police for marijuana. Nolan, the patient, told the hospital and doctors about using THC capsules in place of prescribed opioids. This is why we need to legalize cannabis now. pic.twitter.com/h1OZVtqqFx
— MassRoots (@MassRoots) March 8, 2019

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Mormon Church Supports Medical Marijuana For Utah

Guest Post — Fri, 05 Oct 2018 20:45:41 +0000

Mormon Church Supports Medical Marijuana For Utah

Joshua Gill on October 5, 2018

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints agreed to a compromise with lawmakers Thursday that would legalize medical marijuana in Utah.

Mormon leaders initially opposed legalization in a ballot initiative commonly referred to as “Prop 2,” on which Utah citizens will vote in November, for fear that opening access to medical marijuana would also allow for recreational abuse. The church agreed to an alternate plan, however, that would include greater restrictions on the production and distribution of medical marijuana.

Church officials said of the alternate plan that they are “thrilled” to help “alleviate human pain and suffering,” according to The Associated Press.

While LDS church leaders spoke out against Proposition 2 in September, they also expressed support for the concept of medical marijuana for the first time in the church’s history, opening the door for Thursday’s agreement on an alternate plan.

The compromise, backed both by LDS church leaders and state Republican lawmakers, would prevent private distribution and private production of medical marijuana in the state. Medical marijuana would instead be distributed by county health departments and five state-licensed “medical cannabis pharmacies,” all of which will be supplied by a state centralized pharmacy, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, a Republican, said that no matter the result of the vote on Proposition 2, lawmakers will debate the alternative plan in November. If the proposition passes, it will be revised according to the alternative plan. If it fails, lawmakers will debate a new proposed law crafted to conform to the plan

“The good news here is that whether [Prop 2] passes or fails, we’re going to arrive at the same point,” Herbert said.

Those who support the alternative said that the inclusion of the provision allowing county health departments to distribute medical marijuana was necessary to aid rural patients, who would otherwise have to drive to Salt Lake City for their cannabinoid painkillers.

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